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Gut Reaction: Padres 6, Mets 3 (7/26/17)

The San Diego Padres handed the Mets only their second loss in their last eight games. Steven Matz was charged with the loss, his third straight. Matz lasted only three innings, and his work in that time was not pretty. He allowed nine hits, and six earned runs. He did not walk any batters. This latest troubled start has Matz’s season ERA up to a bleak 5.51. Mostly Matz struggled with locating his pitches, as he gave up several big hits that put the Mets down early. A solo home run in the first, and a bases-clearing triple in the third did him in. My Gut Reaction is that Matz will be effective this year, when he is able to locate his pitches properly.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Mets squeaked out five hits. Yoenis Cespedes, Asdrubal Cabrera, Wilmer Flores, Lucas Duda, and Jose Reyes each produced a hit. The biggest hit for the Mets was a solo home run in the eighth by Flores. Although they put up a decent amount of runs, they suffered from nine strikeouts at the plate.

Out of the bullpen, Erik Goeddel, Tyler Pill, and Hansel Robles combined to throw six shutout innings. They combined to strikeout seven in their collective body of work, while the only walk was surrendered by Pill. The Mets are back in action tonight at 10:10 when Chris Flexen will make his major league debut, and the Mets will attempt to take their second straight series.

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14 comments for “Gut Reaction: Padres 6, Mets 3 (7/26/17)”

Metsense

July 27, 2017 at 8:27 am

This is a troubling thought: Montero has a better ERA and FIP than Wheeler, Gsellman, Harvey and Matz. Chew on that for a minute. These four need to get on the mound and pitch consistently and stay (get) healthy be get included in the 2018 plans. If not, the Mets need to fill the holes in their rotation and it will be expensive. 2018 playoffs can’t be built on promise, results are what matter.
Walker playing third base in rehab is a good move and should continue at the major league level to see if he is defensively better than Cabrera/Reyes/TJ and Flores. He already is better offensively than those four and above league average for a third baseman.

On Matz, I know that TC is pushing the location issue, but I don’t know if that’s a cause or an effect. The pitches seems to lack some crispness, bite. He’s a guy who I’ll always wonder if he’s truly healthy. The grim protests that he’s “fine” don’t mean much to me, just stuff that players say when they are in “no excuses” mode. Harvey, Wheeler, they all stand there and talk about how great they feel. I don’t blame them for that, it’s almost required, but I don’t necessarily believe any of it.

I don’t know what’s wrong with Matz. Maybe it’s location. But again, why is the location off? Just one of those things?

You look at the batting averages of the lineup and nobody is over .290, with 3 starters and 2 PHers under .250. You look at the parade of ERAs that closed out the game: 5.51, 4.76, 4.50, 5.27.

Matz has release point issues from what I see. He is very much struggling to throw is fastball at the knees. I know Ronnie wants Matz to throw it 60 % of the time, but he simply cant find the strength or control to get it down, leaving him exposed to aim it at lower velo. Hes relying on the hook because he gets swing and miss when its good. Like JP, I dont believe in any of the “Im fine” insistence. If he is, the future for him is very troubling.

Metsense’s concern about pitching depth is real. Ive been troubled from week 2, and nothing has changed. Poor control. Poor command. Imaginary swing-and-miss stuff that is not really there aside from deGrom. It says we need defense to utilize these guys, and for them to stop giving up an unholy amount of dingers.

From Anthony DiComo’s article today:
“Matz is 0-3 with a 14.18 ERA over his last four starts, bloating his season mark to 5.51. Opposing batters have hit .472 off him. His next start comes at Coors Field, of all places, where the Mets will watch with apprehension.”

Used to be that pitchers can make a mistake and get away with it, but it doesn’t seem to be the case any longer. I read Darling’s comments about the fastball as pitching too carefully – passively. Darling may feel that Matz can be more aggressive.

One thing no one has mentioned is how Reyes misplays extended the damage and made Matz’ work harder. On the other side, Padres fielders were stealing hits with delight. Mets pitchers have had to put up with a lot because Alderson thinks we’re playing Strat-O-Matic. I can’t blame them if their focus is damaged all year due to the poor defense, but it must be blocked out.

Rosario, Smith and Lagares will change the dynamics of this team and magically make the pitchers better. It’s why I feel this team needs to rid Duda, Cabrera, Bruce and Granderson to get better. There will be enough offense left, no outfield rotations, and a much better pitching staff.

I like this kind of thing. One that I recently found out is that the Rockies are 26-13 in day games but just 32-32 in night games. We won the first two games of the series after the All-Star break, which were both night games. When we played the third game, in the daytime, the Mets came out on the wrong end of a 13-4 score. Should have wagered on that one.

BTW – there’s an error somewhere. Your numbers add up to 45 wins and the Mets have 47.

Matz and Wheeler both are similar with the tease of electric stuff but a tin heart. They are great when they get through the first couple of innings with no trouble, but if they struggle early there is no chance that they will last. DeGrom has it, even when is off early on you know he will keep fighting to get deep into the game.

I contend that Wheeler and Matz have shown tremendous fortitude and courage (heart, if you will) by working so hard to overcome career-threatening injuries and multiple setbacks without complaint. They both just keep putting in the work, fighting to get back out there.

They have heart. However, both appear to lack health. That’s not a moral failing.

Matz has pitched clinching games in the minors including coming back early from an injury to almost throw a no hitter to get Binghamton into the playoffs on the last day of the season. He has heart. Also, as I wrote above, he had 2.12 ERA just two weeks ago. It’s been a bad two weeks and the team needs to look at video or figure it out somehow. He can’t be left to just “work through it”.

Wheeler, probably should have been put into the bullpen (as John Smoltz said, someone who should know) after missing two full years or at least a piggy back option to not stress the guy too much, defense not withstanding. However, circumstances have thrown him into the fire and while he is doing ok through four innings, he quickly loses his stamina around the 80 pitch mark.

All these guys seem to have a problem staying healthy, and it’s not just one or two. So, it’s a pattern.